Golden Perch

Ingredients

Tamamiso

1kg white miso
400g sugar
90ml mirin
180ml sake
5 egg yolks

Miso zuke

500g perch fillets, skin-on
Tomato mousse
250g tomatoes
100g thickened cream
30g egg white
40g soy milk (no added sugar)
1 teaspoon gelatine
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Pinch of black pepper

To serve

60g foie gras pâté
20g karasumi (semi-dried mullet roe), to taste

Method

Tamamiso

Mix all the ingredients together and heat on a low heat for 1 hour. Keep stirring to avoid the bottom from burning.
Stir until it is thick and viscous enough (viscosity is achieved if the liquid is able to hold onto a spoon for 2 seconds before dripping down).

Miso zuke

Preparing the miso-zuke (marinating the fish fillet with miso) requires 4 days, so do this step early. Remove excess moisture from the fillets by wiping with a paper towel.

In a container, place some tamamiso paste on the bottom, followed by a piece of paper towel, then followed by a fillet, and then followed by a piece of paper towel again. Repeat this sequence of miso, paper towel, fish, paper towel, miso etc. The reason for this is so that there is no direct contact between the fish fillet and the tamamiso, so the fish does not absorb too much of the miso flavour, destroying the original flavour of the fish.

Keep the marinated fillets in the fridge for up to 4 days. Note that the fish will not be washed before being used for grilling later on, to retain the beautiful miso flavour.

Tomato mousse

Make 120g of tomato paste by removing the skin from 250g of tomatoes and blending them. Heat the tomato paste to reduce it to half the amount then remove from heat. Let it cool down in a mixing bowl and leave it in the fridge.

In another mixing bowl, whip 100g of thickened cream and let it sit. Again, in another mixing bowl, whip 30g of egg white. Warm up the soy milk, add in the gelatine and stir the mixture. Add the cold tomato paste to the soy milk, together with a pinch of black pepper, lemon juice and the whipped thickened cream. Mix the mixture gently.

Next, add the whipped egg white and mix. Pour the mixture into a shallow container, so the mousse is about 2cm high. Keep the mousse in the fridge to let it maintain its texture.

To serve

Cut the perch fillets into thin slices of 8mm each. Place the cut fillets under a hot grill for for 2 minutes each side or till the surface becomes a nice golden colour.

While grilling, prepare the base of the golden perch canape. Scoop the tomato mousse and place it onto the foie gras pâté, about 3mm thick. When the perch fillets are done, place the foie gras and tomato mousse on top of it and finish off with a slice of karasumi (semi-dried mullet roe).

Eat straightaway as the foie gras will melt on top of the grilled perch fillet.

Credits: Shigeo Nonaka, an edited extract from 'Signature Dishes' by Michelle Tchea, Published by New Holland